Moran Plan: ‘I want to see Limerick create thousands of jobs and to stop the brain drain’
- Frontrunner to hold second public meeting to outline business and agri-food plan -
Limerick Mayor frontrunner John Moran has released the second pillar (“A More Prosperous Limerick”) of his plan to make Limerick “the most desirable location in Ireland to live”. This adds to pillar one (“A More Liveable Limerick”) issued last week with 111 examples of actions which would build thousands of new homes, create new transport links for all and boost culture. His third pillar, “A More Healthy Limerick” will be announced next week on May 2nd, making him the first and only candidate to issue such detailed plans.
In this new detailed, 32-page document, the former Department of Finance chief continues the approach of setting out specific visions for each area of focus and deliverable and measurable actions he will deliver during a five-year Mayoral term.
He starts the policy document with a reminder that “In the rapidly shifting landscape of global economies, wars and technological change, city regions like Limerick must navigate through a complex maze of challenges and opportunities and so must its residents.”
To help business navigate that maze, and deliver a More Prosperous Limerick, he has set out a further 149 examples of actions to transform how business is conducted in Limerick, how we deliver more equal opportunity irrespective of Eircode and how we protect our prosperity better against shocks for the future.
Moran commented “If the people of Limerick trust me to be their Mayor, I want them to know before the election what I plan to do to ensure that we get going right away in unlocking our untapped potential. I want to deliver the environment to create thousands of new jobs for workers who will live in the houses which we said we would deliver last week and to stop the brain drain which is continuing in Limerick every year. We must do more for the talent emerging from our educational institutions across Limerick. We need to stop the brain drain of talented young people. We need to ensure that Limerick can be the safe place where they can continue to learn, work, live and - as I said last week – have fun.”
“In 2012, I worked on actions at the national level to turn around a crippling unemployment crisis. Since then, over 700,000 new jobs have been created across Ireland - but not enough have landed here in Limerick. I also worked at the European Investment Bank on the Junker Plan, which mobilised 344 billion euros of investment in EU infrastructure and SMEs over 3 years.
I want to apply the same principles here in Limerick now to deliver tens of thousands of jobs and billions through investment. I know I can do it because I have done it before.”
“My plan not only outlines what we should do to better prepare for the future, it outlines specific actions to be taken as one Limerick to prepare for and seize the incredible opportunities for Limerick from renewable energy off our shores and other changes happening in the world.”
It focuses particularly on the need to bring everyone along together by focusing on more equal opportunity for all.
The plan continues with specific measurable actions to be driven by the Mayor, covering sectors like SMEs and Indigenous businesses, Agri and Food, Creative Industries, Manufacturing and Engineering, Retail and Tourism and FDI.
There is a specific section to position Limerick to embrace new technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Not surprisingly, given the ambition for large scale delivery of housing, there are specific actions to support construction including a calling a forum together “immediately after the election” of “local builders and developers and construction sector participants to understand blockages in the system to projects with planning permission getting underway”.
Moran certainly has some innovative ideas about how to deliver on his actions.
In a particularly interesting section, Moran sets out how he would better leverage the public wealth of Limerick, not just our physical public assets but also the social assets in our communities, like educational levels. He plans to conduct a comprehensive audit of all significant state physical assets and come up with a plan to maximise how they are used them quickly.
He has hinted that like with the Junker Plan, which took a limited EU budget and leveraged it to grow multiple times, he would potentially use some of the 40 million mayoral budget to leverage even greater financing to unlock investment in these assets. He also wants to ask Councillors to allocate some of the annual budget for a bursary scheme to supplement existing financial supports for students in Limerick schools who need funding to remain in education in Limerick.
As someone who has himself been involved in bringing three Georgian buildings and his current Campaign HQ back to life, Moran has a specific focus area for actions to revitalise the city centre with strong overlaps with his plans for the Retail sector.
As he says himself in his document “This policy is an invitation to envisage a Limerick rich in opportunities for all, founded on the values of education and hard work, a beacon of economic strength and diversity and a place where innovation and tradition come together and blend as seamlessly as the two rivers which meet at the historical heart of our centre.”
It is clear that Moran has enjoyed the freedom of being an independent in formulating this manifesto unbound by existing party policies but still he is careful to leverage off the existing work done by the Shannon Estuary Task Force and the KPMG Interim Review of Limerick 2030 on which he also worked.
Amongst some of the many ideas outlined in the plan are:
- A social entrepreneurship fund in partnership with national philanthropic groups to help fund in priority projects across the county which work towards for more equal opportunity for all.
- A SME Task Force chaired by the mayor and including selected councilors to build a 5-Year Action Plan for growth and support of the sector especially those not helped by the LEO and EI at present.
- A “Made In Limerick” label for food and other products and a new city centre pavilion to showcase Limerick products especially from our advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors.
- A “Farm to Fork” scheme helping food tourism in Limerick and facilitating direct sales from farmers to consumers and local governments and a network of farmers markets in the city for neighbourhoods, county towns and villages.
- A Limerick Creative District, to offer visibility to and retail space for local artists and creatives in King’s Island.
- A Ryder Cup Preparation Strategic Plan and related Task Force for delivery of actions, including the refurbishment by the Limerick Tourism DAC of the Adare Heritage Centre.
- Work with city centre traders, cultural institutions and hospitality and the Night Time Economic Advisor to develop a plan to improve the offering for city centre late night Thursday and Sunday shopping and entertainment.
The document sets out the 149 specific and measurable actions to be delivered within the mayoral term under fifteen headings:
- Preparing for the Future
- Offshore Wind Opportunity
- Equal Opportunities for All
- SME & Indigenous Focus
- Agri & Food
- IT & Artificial Intelligence
- Creative Industries
- Manufacturing & Engineering
- Retail
- Supporting Construction
- Tourism
- Revitalising Our City Centre
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
- Keeping & Growing our Talent
- Leveraging Public Wealth of Limerick
As with last week, each action point and commitment is measured against two essential criteria: Is it feasible over a five year term, and will it make Limerick’s villages, towns, suburbs and city centre more prosperous and resilient to future shocks.
Moran today has issued an invitation to all Limerick people to come and discuss – and improve -- his vision of what a more ‘Prosperous Limerick’ could be, and how to achieve it, at two public meetings - the first tonight (25 April) at the Woodlands in Adare at 6.30pm and a second at An Eaglais (the old McKern’s printing premises at 17a Glentworth Street, V94 EA02) on Saturday (27 April) from 2.30pm – 4:30pm.
ends